Generally, laminators thermally coat two thin plastic films on both surfaces of an object material using heating rollers and compress both the films and the object material using compressing rollers, thus providing film-coated products. In a conventional laminator having the above-mentioned structure, the respective pair of heating rollers and compressing rollers are repeatedly compressed against each other and spaced apart from each other during coating processes, so as to insert both the object material and the films into a gap between the rollers for coating the film on the object material and remove the film-coated product from the laminator. This operation is executed in every laminator regardless of the size of the laminator.
Conventional laminators are classified into small laminators and large laminators according to the size of object materials. The large laminators can economically coat films, supplied from film rolls, on large object materials. However, a small laminator to be used in general offices or homes has a structure in which a film roll cannot be set in the laminator due to the small size. Accordingly, a user must purchase expensive sheet films and use one sheet film at a time. It is uneconomical.
Furthermore, in conventional laminators, a device for the actuation of heating and compressing rollers has a complex structure using gears operated by electricity. Alternatively, the heating and compressing rollers may be actuated by an air compressor installed in the laminator. Such structures increase the costs of the laminator and, as well, may cause breakdown of the laminator due to the complex structure.
In addition, in the case of the small laminators to be used in small workshops or on worktables, a possible reduction in size of the laminator is limited due to the size of the roller actuating device. Thus, there is difficulty in manufacturing slim laminators.